Happy 14th Birthday, Capstone!

Happy Birthday Capstone!

In 2023, Capstone Church is turning 14 years old. In some ways it feels like just yesterday everything we owned fit into a covered trailer and we were having services across the street in the Fountain Inn Activities Center.  In other ways that seems like a lifetime ago.  

In the last fourteen years we have had over 650 Gatherings. In those Gatherings we have listened to over 1100 Sermons.  Our First Impressions team members have opened hundreds of thousands of doors and given out almost 100,000 message maps.  We have served tens of thousands of gallons of coffee.  We have celebrated over one hundred births and luckily only mourned a handful of deaths.  We have given away hundreds of thousands of dollars in the name of the Gospel.   When you think back and do the math those numbers add up quickly but it wasn’t just one person who made that happen.  It was a team effort. 

Many things have changed over the past 14 years, while others have stayed the same.  One of the things that has stayed the same is that Capstone wants to have a team mentality.  Scripture is very clear that we all have different gifts and different roles, yet we are one body.  That one body or united team is limitless in what it can accomplish when it works together for a common goal. Capstone’s goal the past 14 years has been to equip the saints to bring the Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven, starting in Fountain Inn.  

We have been blessed over the past decade to see fruit from this vision.  We have set God-sized goals and been in awe of how the Lord has gone above and beyond in allowing us to be a part something greater than ourselves.  That is the power of being a part of a Team.  There is no way we could do or see what God has done without the power of working together to be a part of a vision bigger than our individual selves.   The writer of Hebrews says it this way:

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.   Hebrews 10:24–25

On a team you encourage one another.  You support one another.  You challenge one another.  You gather together in order to practice, plan, and execute a game plan.  It has been an honor and joy to gather as Team Capstone to bring the Kingdom to Fountain Inn and beyond.   When we look back, which God tells Israel and all his people to do, we should soak in the fact that God has used an imperfect, unimpressive, and immature Capstone family to accomplish only what God could.  God doesn’t need us, yet he invites in to do amazing things for His glory. He doesn’t invite us to do it alone but in community as a team and an extended family. 

In what we have accomplished in 14 years, I believe the Lord is just getting started.  I would not have written the past 14 years the way in which they have occurred.  It would probably look much different if I was in charge, but we remember that “His ways are greater than our ways.”  This has given me even greater hope of what He has in store for the next 14 years.  He has given us a direction. He has given us a target.  He has given us a plan and all we can do is stay on that “long obedience in the same direction” and simply be ready with our yes.  We have to know that we aren’t doing this alone, but we are doing this as a team and the victory is found in our obedience and His glory. 

Walt Tanner
Vision and Teaching Pastor